PIP assessment cancelled last minute

mattkaye999

Hi I’m new here and wondering if Capita cancelling recorded PIP assessments the days before is commonplace? My original appointment was an u recorded one but I changed it to a recorded one following advice and so that there is more assistance of the assessment being conducted fairly. I have been waiting since June 4th for my assessment. It is now 24th November. My recorded one was due tomorrow at 11.15 and my wife had taken the day off work and alternative childcare arranged. Approx 10am this morning Capita rung me to say my assessor was sick and my appointment could only be kept if I opted instead for an unrecorded one. I politely declined and the lady I spoke with who was pleasant at this point said ok and she would ring me back before 5pm to let me know if the sick member of staff would be back to complete my recorded assessment as planned. At 3.30pm I received a call to say unfortunately she was not contactable and again offered me an unrecorded assessment at the same time. I declined and said no problem
i will wait another week or month or whatever and it needed to be a recorded assessment. The lady then became rude and said”well I can’t rebook you one and I’m
off tomorrow so I’ll get a colleague to ring you tomorrow. I have mental health issues abs this has done me no good at all. I feel pressured and wondered if this was standard practice? I am now very anxious someone either won’t ring me tomorrow to reschedule or someone will ring to pressure me into an unrecorded assessment.  Surely they should have confirmed with the sick staff member first before ringing me this morning and rung me offering me a new recorded assessment. Disability groups have long campaigned for recorded assessments but I feel like the DWP are trying to get round this. I would be interested if anyone else has had any similar experiences. I had built myself up to crisis point in worry and now I feel terribly let down.

Ross_Alumni

Hi @mattkaye999

Welcome to the community, it's nice to see you join us. 

Sorry to hear that your assessment has been postponed, I have seen many members on here mention that theirs has been as well at some point so I would assume that it can be quite common. It sounds quite frustrating and inconvenient, given that you had planned for it.

You mentioned in your post that you have mental health issues, and it's concerning to read that this has built you up to a crisis point. Do you have support in place to manage your mental health? Do you have any techniques that help you to relax in a time like this?

This is a very supportive and welcoming community, so I'm sure you'll enjoy being here, feel free to have a look around and get involved wherever you'd like.

woodbine

@mattkaye999 good afternoon and welcome to scope, sorry you are having problems, firstly the assessments aren't done by the DWP and they have no say in how they are operated, it's unfortunate that your assessor is off sick but it happens, you say you applied on June 4th, a five month wait at the moment is not unheard of as there are massive backlogs and by insisting on a recorded assessment you will only make the wait longer i'm afraid .

You have two choices wait until they can do a recorded assessment or accept one that isn't, the choice is yours.
I have to say that from experience of a PIP assessment (unrecorded) was good and the assessors report was also reflective of the assessment.

poppy123456

Hi,

Personally, i would rather concentrate on the assessment itself rather than any recording because a recording isn't going to help you claim PIP sucessfully.

Some AP will refuse to to do an assessment while they are being recorded and they are within their rights to do this, which is probably why you've had to wait this long.

Assessments being cancelled at the last minute is normal, people do get sick and even more so under the current circumstances.

I agree with woodbine here, you can either just book the assessment without the recording which will mean you'll have it sooner, or wait longer for another AP who will agree to a recording.